News & Analysis as of

Attorney's Fees FRCP 23

Pierce Atwood LLP

Cutting to the Chase: The Relief, the Release, and the Rest.

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Class action settlements are complicated affairs. They can take months or even years to negotiate, followed by months to send notice and obtain trial court approval, and months or years longer if an approval order is...more

Pierce Atwood LLP

What’s So Different About Class Action Mediation?

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The author presented the following paper at the 2020 Class Actions National Institute of the American Bar Association. What makes mediating a class action different from mediating an individual case? In both settings,...more

JAMS

Eleventh Circuit Decision Prohibits Incentive Awards for Class Reps

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On September 17, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a bombshell decision: A court may not award an incentive fee to a class representative. This is surprising, if not shocking, as it is standard...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Eleventh Circuit Eliminates Incentive Awards for Class Action Plaintiffs

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In a split decision, the Eleventh Circuit rejected a $6,000 incentive award for the named plaintiff in a TCPA class action. According to the majority in Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, LLC, U.S. Supreme Court precedent prohibits...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The Eleventh Circuit Deals A Significant Blow To Class Action Suits By Eliminating Incentive Awards For Plaintiffs

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Seyfarth Synopsis: Incentive awards for class representatives are impermissible, according to a ground-breaking decision last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Though not an employment case, the...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Eleventh Circuit Ends “Routine” Practice of Awarding Incentive Payments to Named Class Representatives

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It is not atypical for class actions to be brought seeking damages that can be characterized as nominal in nature. An oftentimes powerful incentive for potential class representatives to put their names on a putative class...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

11th Circuit Forbids Incentive Payments

You need to read Johnson v. NPAS Solutions, LLC. This recent decision from the 11th Circuit fundamentally changes the rules of obtaining approval for class action settlements. Johnson’s introduction emphasizes that the...more

Carlton Fields

An Unauthorized Bounty: Eleventh Circuit Strikes Named Plaintiff Incentive Payment

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This week, an Eleventh Circuit panel, in a 2-1 decision, reversed the approval of an incentive payment to the named plaintiff, calling the payment an unauthorized bounty. The case involved a Telephone Consumer Protection Act...more

Pierce Atwood LLP

Are Incentive Payments the New Fly in the Ointment?

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For years, class action settlements typically have included incentive payments to named plaintiffs. The payments usually represent a very small percentage of the overall settlement payout, and are designed to compensate named...more

Pierce Atwood LLP

The Roles of the Players in Class Settlements. Part 2: Class Counsel

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In Part 1 of this series, I explained the role of defense counsel in class action settlements. In this Part 2, I will explore the role of class counsel. I embark on this journey with some trepidation, because as a defense...more

Moore & Van Allen PLLC

What About the Merits – What, If Anything, Will the Supreme Court Do With Cy Pres-Only Class Action Settlements?

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We have been talking about Frank v. Gaos, (No. 17-961), since the U.S. Supreme Court decided to tackle the extreme case of the use of the cy pres doctrine in the context of class action cases. The settlement is a cy pres-only...more

Carlton Fields

The Bitter And The Sweet

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On October 3, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s approval of a class settlement, an award of attorney’s fees to class counsel, and the provision of an incentive award for the class...more

Mintz - Securities Litigation Viewpoints

Special Master Recommends Return of $10.6 Million in Attorneys’ Fees to Class Members

Former U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen, the Special Master appointed to investigate alleged improper billing by class plaintiffs’ firms in Arkansas Teacher Retirement System v. State Street Bank and Trust Company,...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

A Primer: Wisconsin's New Class Action Statute

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The amendment of Wis. Stat. section 803.08, which takes effect July 1, 2018, modernizes and brings needed clarity to class action practice in Wisconsin state courts. Precedent from the federal courts should help guide...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

5 TCPA Class Action Trends to Watch in 2018 – Legislation, Administrative Law & Litigation

Have the GOP’s Hopes for Enacting the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act Been Dashed? – Passed in March 2017 by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017, H.R. 985, has...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

Wisconsin Supreme Court Adopts Significant Changes to State Class Action Statute

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On December 21st, the Wisconsin Supreme Court entered an order adopting proposed amendments to Wisconsin’s class action procedures in state court actions, which are “intended to align [the state rule] with the federal class...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Reverse Auction Ploy by Competing Class Counsel Creates Right of Intervention by Class Members Whose Settlement Demands Were...

In a case that reveals the darker aspects of what can sometimes be an ugly competition for the class counsel role, the Eleventh Circuit rendered an opinion last week finding that a group of plaintiffs were entitled to...more

Moore & Van Allen PLLC

Congressional Overhaul of Class Action Procedure Pending Senate Consideration

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As class action litigation has continued to proliferate, we have seen efforts to rein in the perceived abuses of the system on multiple fronts. Over a decade ago, Congress passed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA)...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Fate of House bill to change class action procedures could be barometer for CFPB arbitration rule

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On February 9, 2017, the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 19-12 passed the Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017, a bill that would make significant changes to the procedures for class actions in federal...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The U.S. Supreme Court And Workplace Class Actions

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Seyfarth Synopsis: As profiled in our recent publication of the 13th Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report, the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings have a profound impact on employers and the tools they may utilize to...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Five Takeaways from the Duke Conference on Class Action Settlements

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A few weeks ago, the Duke Law Center for Judicial Studies held a conference on class action settlements in San Diego, to discuss best practices in the wake of the likely Rule 23 amendments. Like all of its conferences, this...more

Carlton Fields

Southern District of California Rejects Coupon Class Settlement

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The Southern District of California rejected a pre-certification class settlement because it provided for an inadequate coupon payment and a tenuous cy pres award, and included a clear sailing attorney fee provision....more

Moore & Van Allen PLLC

North Carolina Court Rules Class Action Settlements Can Award Attorneys’ Fees, but Note of Caution to Local Counsel

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The North Carolina Court of Appeals considered for the first time whether it is legal in a class action settlement agreement for one party to agree to pay the other’s attorneys’ fees and expenses. The court concluded that it...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

The Class Actions Global Guide, US

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WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF CLASS/COLLECTIVE ACTIONS IN YOUR JURISDICTION? ARE THEY POPULAR AND WHAT ARE THE CURRENT TRENDS? Definition of class/collective actions - In the US, a class action is a form of...more

Robinson+Cole Class Actions Insider

Insights from DRI Class Action Seminar 2015 – Part 1

As I’ve done in past years, this post and the next one will summarize some takeaways I gleaned from this year’s DRI Class Action Seminar. Impact of Dart Cherokee: Nowell Berreth, who argued this case in the Supreme...more

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